Folding container for liquids

ABSTRACT

A folding container for liquids in the shape of triangular prism which consists of a cardboard being folded in two along the axis line passing the center of the board and a synthetic resin film being attached onto the inside of said folded cardboard and being folded up into the inside of said board when not used in the shape of a flat plate.

United States Patent Watanabe June 10, 1975 FOLDING CONTAINER FOR LIQUIDS hCAarpenter. [751 Masa'wl'i wannabe TOkYO' J3P3 313391721 9/l967 Goidstein: 1111.....205/521 3,521,807 7/1970 Weisberg 229/55 x [73] Asslgnee' E525?" Pmtmg Tokyo 3,640,381 2/1972 Kanada et al 229/55 x [22] Filed: June I4, 1973 Primary Examiner-Roy Lake [2]] Appl' 370A Assistant Examiner-James F. Coan Related U.S, Appligation D m Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Lerner, David, Littenberg [62] Division of Ser. No. 135,896, April 21, 1971. Samuel abandoned.

Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 23. 197i 46-39836 US. Cl.. 93/361"; 156/287; 264/94; 425/1 10 Int. Cl 83") 49/02 Field of Search 425/110, 127, DlG. 38', 264/94; 156/287; 93/36 M, 36.01; 53/175 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l2/l943 Vogt 264/94 X [57 ABSTRACT A folding container for liquids in the shape of triangular prism which consists of a cardboard being folded in two along the axis line passing the center of the board and a synthetic resin film being attached onto the inside of said folded cardboard and being folded up into the inside of said board when not used in the shape of a flat plate.

2 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUH I 0 I975 SHEET 3 INVENTOR.

FOLDING CONTAINER FOR LIQUIDS This is a division of application Ser. No. 135,896 filed Apr. 21, 1971, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to a folding container, and more particularly to a novel folding container for liq uids which consists of a square cardboard and a sheet of synthetic resin film.

Further this invention relates to a folding container for liquids which can be easily laid up in a storage in the flat folded state, easily opened to contain any materials, especially liquids, and easily disposed of by being creased in two again after the use.

The cardboard of said container is preferably coated with a synthetic resin layer and the cardboard is folded in two along the line passing through the center of the board in the manner as to the coated surface be inside. The resin film of said container consists of a rectangu lar middle portion and two triangular portions which are attached integrally to the two shorter sides of said rectangular middle portion, and the peripheral sides of said resin film are adhered on to the peripheral sides of said cardboard to form the container of the present invention. Further said resin film is preferably creased previously in order to be folded into said cardboard when the container is not used. This container can be produced by other method such that, by means of the blow molding, said cardboard is set into a mold in the first place, then a blank or a parison made of thermoplastic resin is inserted into the mold and blown to be forced against the two inner sides of the cardboard and one side wall and top and bottom surfaces of the mold cavity to form a hollow trigonal prism. By coating the cardboard with a synthetic resin layer as aforementioned, the adherence with said resin film is improved, and in addition to that, the permeation of the contained liquid into the cardboard can be prevented.

Thus produced container is suitable especially for putting liquids, in, and when a liquid is contained in the container, the cardboard is opened on the center fold line and becomes in a shape of triangular prism. While, before the liquid is put in or after the liquid is discharged, the container can be folded into a thin plate by folding said cardboard and said resin film along the creases.

The object of this invention is to provide a container which is simple in the construction, easy to be produced and low in the production costs.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a container which can be laid up in a small floor space and can be transported in a easy manner.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a container which can be disposed of with ease without any troubles after the content is discharged.

These and other objects and features of the invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of the container of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is also a perspective view of said embodiment wherein the container is folded up;

FIG. 3 is a partially cut away plan view of the cardboard which composes a part of said embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the synthetic resin film which also composes a part of said embodiment of the inventlon;

FIG, 5 is a perspective view of the container of the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the mold in the blow molding process to produce the container of the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective schematic illustration of the mold as show in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the second embodi ment which is viewed from the other side of the container as shown in FIG. 5 and is partially cut away.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 4, inclusive, the container l of the first embodiment of the invention consists ofa cardboard 2 and a synthetic resin film 3. A relatively thick card is preferably used as said cardboard 2 which is in the shape of almostly square, and at least one side surface of the cardboard 2 is coated with a resin layer 4 such as polyethylene layer in order to provide waterproofness and adhesion with the film 3. A crease S is formed along the line which passes at the center of the cardboard 2 and is parallel to the two counter sides of the cardboard 2. On said crease S, a small outlet 22 is provided.

The synthetic resin film 3 is made of polyethylene or polyethylene/polyester laminated film, and consists of a rectangular central portion 6 and two triangular tongues 7, 8 which are attached integrally to the respective shorter sides of said rectangular portion 6. The flaps 9, 10 can be formed such that a continuous sheet film including said rectangular portion 6 and tongues 7, 8 is folded along the borders between said portion 6 and said tongues 7, 8, and then the portions near the borders are adhered, or three sheets of the resin films including the portion 6 and the two tongues 7, 8 are made and each base of said tongues 7, 8 is adhered to each of the shorter sides of the rectangular portion 6. Further, on the resin film 3 is provided with creases l l, 12, 13, l4, 15 which are to be employed when the container is folded up. The crease I1 is formed on the central axis of the film 3, the creases l2, 13 are formed on the tongue 7, and the creases 14, 15 are formed on the tongue 8. Further the resin film 3 is provided with ad hesion hems 16, 17, I8, 19, 20, 21 on the peripheral sides. The adhesion hems 16, 17 are formed on the respective two longer sides of the rectangular portion 6, the adhesion hems l8, 19 are formed on the two sides of the tongue 7, and the adhesion hems 20, 21 are formed on the two sides of the tongue 8.

The counter adhesion hems 16', 17', l8, 19', 20', 2i to receive the aforementioned hems I6, l7, 18, I9, 20, 21, are formed on the periphery of the abovedescribed cardboard 2 and on the side being coated with synthetic resin.

In order to put together the above-mentioned cardboard 2 and the resin film 3 to obtain the container of the invention, in the first place, the cardboard 2 is folded along the crease 5 in the manner that the resin coated surface becomes inside, and then the polyethylene side of the resin film 3 is adhered to the inside of the folded cardboard 2, in which the adhesion hems l6, l7, 18, 19, 20, 21 of the film 3 are adhered to the adhesion hems 16', 17', I8, I9, 20', 21 of the board 2, respectively. In case of the resins of the coating and the film 3 are both polyethylene, the adhesion can be carried out under the conditions of a temperature of lC, a pressure of 2.5 Kg/cm and a period of 2 minutes, which can be easily carried out without any special technics, thus the container of the present invention can be produced without any difficulties.

Now hereinafter, the second embodiment of the invention will be explained, which is shown in H65. 5 to 8, inclusive.

The function of the container of the second embodiment is almostly the same as that of the first embodiment. In order to save the troubles to adhere the aforementioned adhesion hems in great numbers, the resin film 3a is fixed to the inside of folded cardboard 2 by means of a blow molding.

In the first place, a folded cardboard 2 is inserted into a triangular cavity, being closely contacted with the two inside surfaces in the cavity of the mold 23. Then a parison 24 made of thermoplastic resin is inserted be tween the three side walls, i.e., the two inner sides of the folded cardboard 2 and one remainder wall of the cavity which do not receive the folded cardboard 2, and then the parison 24 is blown by, for example, compressed hot air to expand and force the parison 24 on to the two inside surfaces of the cardboard 2 and one remainder side surface of the cavity and further on to the inside top and bottom surfaces of the cavity. Thus the film 3a of the expanded parison 24 forms the container of the present invention, in which the portion of the film facing to the folded cardboard 2 is firmly attahed to the inside surfaces of the folded cardboard 2. The creases ll, l2, l3, l4, may be formed by providing fine ridged lines on the surfaces of the cavity. The numeral 25 is the intake of the air in the blow molding and it may be used as the intake and as the outlet for the contents of the container when it is used.

The container of the invention having the abovementioned construction, it can be easily produced,

stored and disposed of without any troubles. Further the container has two side walls made of cardboard, therefore the container can be easily and clearly printed with any desired letters and patterns in order to use for the package of commodity, and further the two side walls help the container to stand straight, therefore the container can be used for displaying any materials. It should be emphasized that the specific embodi' ments described and shown herein are intended as merely illustrative and in no way restrictive of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A method for producing a container for liquids in the shape of a triangular prism including the steps of:

a. folding a piece of cardboard along a center line thereof to provide a piece of folded cardboard;

b. inserting said folded cardboard into a triangular prismatic cavity of a mold so as to contact closely with the two rectangular inside surfaces of the cavity of the mold;

c. inserting a molten parison made of thermoplastic resin into the inner portion of said triangular pris matic cavity of the mold; and

d. blowing up said parison so as to form blown resin film attaching firmly on the inside surfaces of said cardboard and to form resin films on the remainder walls of the triangular prismatic cavity of said mold for forming creases on each of said resin films along fine ridged lines provided on the respective wall surfaces of the cavity for producing a folding container.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 in which said piece of cardboard is initially coated with a resin layer. 

1. A method for producing a container for liquids in the shape of a triangular prism including the steps of: a. folding a piece of cardboard along a center line thereof to provide a piece of folded cardboard; b. inserting said folded cardboard into a triangular prismatic cavity of a mold so as to contact closely with the two rectangular inside surfaces of the cavity of the mold; c. inserting a molten parison made of thermoplastic resin into the inner portion of said triangular prismatic cavity of the mold; and d. blowing up said parison so as to form blown resin film attaching firmly on the inside surfaces of said cardboard and to form resin films on the remainder walls of the triangular prismatic cavity of said mold for forming creases on each of said resin films along fine ridged lines provided on the respective wall surfaces of the cavity for producing a folding container.
 2. The method as defined in claim 1 in which said piece of cardboard is initially coated with a resin layer. 